Stockton medical prison unsanitary, inadequate

Admissions halted over poor conditions

STOCKTON - Admissions to the state's largest medical prison, the California Health Care Facility in Stockton, have been temporarily suspended by a court-appointed medical receiver because of unsanitary and inadequate conditions.

STOCKTON - Admissions to the state's largest medical prison, the California Health Care Facility in Stockton, have been temporarily suspended by a court-appointed medical receiver because of unsanitary and inadequate conditions.

The Los Angeles Times reported that an advocacy group additionally learned one inmate has died after his calls to nurses went unanswered for a period of time. Other patient-inmates were found to have diaper and catheter leaks, skin tears and other problems as a result of poor care.

In a tri-annual report to the federal courts, medical receiver Clark Kelso said the health care facility has been unable to provide sufficient and timely hygiene and medical supplies to patient inmates, circumstances that he said have likely contributed to a scabies outbreak and other health concerns.

Kelso described a complete breakdown of the supply chain system at the facility, which opened in June, and questioned the state's readiness to manage health care successfully.

California is under a federal court order to reduce its prison population to 137.5 percent of capacity after the court determined prisons were too overcrowded.

Kelso was appointed to oversee health care, as the level of inmate health care was deemed unconstitutional.

The state erected the California Health Care Facility - slated to eventually hold 1,722 inmates - as part of its plan to regain control. An adjacent 1,133-bed mental health facility was expected to open in April.

But Kelso also is delaying the opening of that prison facility, citing the larger facility's dilemmas.

"Any time you open a large facility, you're going to have a certain number of problems," Kelso said in a phone interview. "At the Stockton facility, some of the issues were complicated because we're trying to introduce completely new ways of doing business within a prison.

"We have some real particular problems in just making sure the basic supplies are reaching the housing units in the right amounts in the right time."

Jeffrey Callison, press secretary for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, acknowledged that there are issues with the supply chain.

Callison said the corrections department had ordered thousands of towels for the facility. He said recently officials found that medical staff have been using them to clean and then they toss them. Since then, Callison said, more have been ordered.

The prison is responsible for providing supplies and correctional officers, but it is understaffed.

Callison said it is fairly normal for prisons across the state to have vacancies for a variety of reasons.

But as far as concerns with medical staffing and medical response, Callison said: "We do not control those. "Medical staff and medical decisions are made by the receiver's office."

The Berkeley-based Prison Law Office also has been monitoring the facility and in its latest report not only noted the lack of supplies but also the prison's failure to provide timely medical care and treatment.

Prisoners told the law office that a fellow inmate who had been complaining of excessive bleeding for days died after medical staff ignored his calls for help. On the day he died, he pushed his call button and cried for help. When medical staff responded about 30 minutes later, he was unconscious, they said.

Kelso said medical privacy laws prevent him from saying much about the death, but he said the incident is in the process of being reviewed by a committee.

The law office report mentions another prisoner with a serious condition who was left in his own feces overnight. Staff interviews confirmed the account, the law office says.

During that inspection, the law office also learned prisoners had little or no state-issued clothing. One man had swollen cracked feet, and many others had no jackets, despite the cold weather.

"The prison is experiencing serious system problems that are putting hundreds, if not thousands, of prisoners at serious risk of harm," said Rebekah Evenson, an attorney with the law office. "We are glad to see that they have stopped admitting patients."

Evenson said the prison has moved far too slowly in fixing the issues identified by the law office.

"It's terrible and inhuman conditions," she said, adding that she hopes the state will act more quickly this time.

Kelso's report says the facility has had a difficult time filling clinical and administrative positions, particularly psychiatry jobs.

But even if the facility were fully staffed, he said "there are extremely serious deficiencies in the activation" of the prison hospital.

Officials who visited the facility in September and October indicated to Kelso that troubles with the facility's process of procuring and delivering materials to housing units were so serious that items such as catheters, diapers and gloves were either insufficient or not available at all.

Health care administrators have become so desperate at times that they have driven to San Joaquin County General Hospital to borrow supplies and regularly make emergency supply orders.

Kelso was notified of a soap and towel shortage that led to patient-inmates being unable to take showers. Often, they were using dirty socks to dry themselves.

"This, combined with reports of general unsanitary conditions in cells, has likely contributed to an outbreak of scabies at the institution," Kelso said in the report. Scabies is a highly contagious skin infection caused by mites.

Kelso said he made staffing changes, including replacing the health care CEO, and sent an experienced team of executives and clinicians to monitor progress, but the situation has not improved.

The team concluded "the institution was being run as just another prison - where custody issues are typically the highest priority and health care and other programs are secondary - instead of being run as a health care facility for patient-inmates," the report states.

Kelso said he is working with state corrections on addressing conditions at the facility, and he should have another update in about three to four months.

"I'm hopeful that by the end of this month, we'll be in a much better position," he said.

Contact reporter Jennie Rodriguez-Moore at (209) 943-8564 or jrodriguez@recordnet.com. Follow her at recordnet.com/courtsblog and on Twitter @TheRecordCourts.